i doubt this is worthy of its own discussion thread, but hey, it's a slow day.

we seem to suddenly be able to block kicks, how fun!

my main question is rule oriented - when is a blocked kick a live ball able to be returned, is it ever? is it live when it's still in the air, meaning if someone caught it before it touches the turf can they advance it?

further... what Viking holds the record for most blocked kicks? what year did we block the most as a team?_________________

Just off the top of my head I guarantee Alan Page has the record for blocked kicks.

I'm pretty sure blocked kicks are always live balls, except on extra points._________________From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn,
Plays wasted words, proves to warn,
That he not busy being born is busy dying.

my main question is rule oriented - when is a blocked kick a live ball able to be returned, is it ever? is it live when it's still in the air, meaning if someone caught it before it touches the turf can they advance it?

XPs cannot be returned in the NFL, only in college.

vike daddy wrote:

further... what Viking holds the record for most blocked kicks? what year did we block the most as a team?

Matt Blair blocked 20 kicks in his Vikings career, which is the franchise record. His single season Vikings record is 5, but I haven't found a team record.

With Matt Kalil's knack for blocking kicks, I think it would be cool for the Vikes to look at a player like Margus Hunt in the late rounds of this years draft, a DE from Southern Methodist. The guy has blocked 14 kicks in his career, ranking 3rd all time in the NCAA.

Hunt's from Estonia, and has only played football for 3 years, so he's a pretty raw talent. He originated as a track star, but it seems like his athleticism has translated pretty well to the field, plus we have previously drafted a DE that was highly heralded for track and field and that's worked out pretty well.

I think it would be cool to have a few players on the team that are good at blocking kicks, and would give us a great edge on special teams_________________World War 3 is gonna begin with two guys sitting in the corner of a dimly lit bar, arguing over whether or not Tim Tebow can be a succesful NFL Quarterback.

If a blocked FG goes beyond the line of scrimmage (like what happened in the SF game), the ball is not live unless touched by a member of the defense after the initial block.

i'm missing something here.

in the SF game, why didn't Viking players pick up the blocked fg, if them touching it makes it live?

or does the kicking team become the defensive team after the block?

The initial block does not make it a live ball, it is based on if the ball passes the line of scrimmage. In this case, the ball crossed the LOS so SF could only down the ball after the roll, but it would go back to the spot of the kick. However if a Viking player had run down and touched the ball à la Leon Lett, San Francisco could have recovered it. On the other hand, a Vikings player could have recovered the attempt and returned it (this happened in an Iowa game a few years ago).

If the blocked FG would have never crossed the LOS, a SF player could have recovered it and ran for a 1st down._________________

On the other hand, a Vikings player could have recovered the attempt and returned it.

so... the Viking players watching the blocked kick in the SF game chose not to pick it up and run with it? why? because once the play is over they take possession of the ball at the kicking line of scrimmage, so why risk a chance of a fumble on the recovery or something? is that it?

On the other hand, a Vikings player could have recovered the attempt and returned it.

so... the Viking players watching the blocked kick in the SF game chose not to pick it up and run with it? why? because once the play is over they take possession of the ball at the kicking line of scrimmage, so why risk a chance of a fumble on the recovery or something? is that it?

what ended that play?

Basically. The ball was deadened by SF at the 5 yard line, but since we didn't touch it, we got the ball at the kicking LOS, which was the 33.

The ball was deadened by SF at the 5 yard line, but since we didn't touch it, we got the ball at the kicking LOS, which was the 33.

aaah, i really didn't remember that.

so the ball was live and in play because the kick was blocked and the ball traveled past the line of scrimmage. the Vikes could have picked up the ball at any time but didn't because they didn't need to desperately jump for it, since they knew they would be getting it back in good field position.

the play was dead once the SF players touched the ball, and they did so because technically the Vikes could have picked it up and ran with it and scored if SF didn't down it. so SF couldn't just ignore it, they had to end the play.